Lit Review #3- Soft Skills as a Predictor or Perceived Internship Effectiveness and Permanent Placement Opportunity

2) Dabke, Deepika. "Soft Skills As A Predictor Of Perceived Internship Effectiveness And Permanent Placement Opportunity." IUP Journal Of Soft Skills 9.4 (2015): 26-42. Business Source Premier. Web. 29 Feb. 2016

3) Summary: Internships are usually a students first opportunity to have experience and work in the real world. Many times these internships are the first real job the student has had. Despite this many times managers want potential interns to already have established soft skills and this causes a mismatch. Internships are the proving ground for new employees and many times and can lead to full time jobs. In this article a study is conducted and finds that internship success is positively correlated with the display of certain soft skills. It was found that positive attitude, courtesy, and interpersonal skills were all very highly valued in perceived intern success. The top traits that led to full time offers from an internship were professionalism, teamwork, and interpersonal skills which are all soft skills. 

4) Author: Dr. Deepika Dabke: Has a PhD in psychology and has 15 years of experience in Academics, T&D, employee engagement, and employee counseling. She currently works as a consulting psychologist and faculty of HR and soft skills at IBS business school in India. She has many articles published and has presented articles and papers in national conferences.  

5) Key Terms:

Internship: A temporary position at a company usually designed for college and graduate students. These positions give students a feel for what work is like in a company and gives them useful experience which can be used for a career after school. These are usually an individuals first step in the door for a career. Internship success can lead to full time offer with a company.

Interpersonal Skills: skills involved in working with others such as communication (verbal and nonverbal), listening skills etc. One of the main soft skills focused on. In the article interpersonal skills are said to be the best predictor of perceived internship success as well as best predictor of being hired full time. 

6) Quotes: "Soft skills are a critical set of skills set for professional success and advancement. They play a pivotal role right from the entry level jobs to critical leadership roles in an organization. Honing a right set of soft skills during the management education program can greatly enhance the chances of a student’s success during the internship as well as job selection in the world of work" (page 11)

"Internship has been consistently looked at as a training ground for students to equip themselves to join the world of work" (page 4)

"The findings of the current study have important implications for universities and institutes. Educational institutes need to bear in mind that a strong soft skills base of students is imperative for interns as they enter the internship projects" (page 9)

7) Value: I wanted to use this article because of the importance of gaining internships which can lead to employment and success after college.It was good to know that soft skills are valued extremely highly in internship success and ability to get hired from an internship. This article is just another example which highlights the importance of soft skills. This helps the overall value of my argument. By having various articles raving about soft skills in the workplace my argument will be very easy to support.